


Abeyance

by camichats



Series: Dictionary Prompts [27]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Getting Together, Identity Reveal, M/M, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 17:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14898498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Bucky dreams of being a hero and saving the prince who's recently gone missing. Instead, he saves Tony in the river and falls in love.





	Abeyance

Word around the kingdom was that they were _royally_ fucked. As in the King and Queen died and the Prince went missing, and that was the extent of their royalty. No extended family to speak of, and the Prince had been young enough and healthy enough that they hadn’t planned for this. For God’s sake, the King himself had been healthy and loved, nobody had foreseen this sort of situation arising. There was no one on the throne, and while the kingdom was well functioning enough that this wasn’t an immediate problem, it was a problem, one that would eventually have to be dealt with. The main goal right now was to find Prince Anthony Stark.

Or so Bucky heard. He had fantastical imaginings of going on a quest and finding the Prince, earning enough prestige that he and Steve would be able to live the noble life. He shook off the daydream and went back to repairing the net. Daydreams were well and good, so long as you remembered they were just that: dreams. In a dream, he was a knight in shining armor who saved the Prince and was a hero. In reality, he was a one armed hermit who couldn’t get in a sail ship anymore without breaking down in a panic.

“Hey Buck?” Steve asked.

Bucky didn’t move from the rock where he was sitting, and he didn’t look up. If he moved now, he’d never get the angle right again. “Yeah?”

“I’m going down to the village to trade. You want anything?”

Bucky shrugged with his left side. “See if they have any news?”

“Yeah, ‘course.” Steve didn’t leave though. “Want me to check for any new books?”

“If you want.” Bucky wasn’t looking, but he could perfectly imagine the way Steve was chewing the inside of his cheek, trying to decide if he should say anything or not.

“Well, I’ll be there all day, but if you need me, don’t hesitate to come down, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Making his steps heavy so Bucky would hear him, Steve walked towards him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’ll tell Sam you said hi.”

“It doesn’t matter how much you tell him that, he’s never gonna believe it.”

“I can try. See you tonight Buck.” He gave his shoulder a squeeze, then left. Coop must have wandered over because Bucky could hear Steve talk to him before leading him back to the wagon. That horse was like a magician with his escapes, yet he never strayed far.

Bucky finished fixing the net and went back in the river. There weren’t as many fish as there normally were, so with a frown, he moved upstream. Up ahead, he saw the water falling over a tree in a miniature waterfall and sighed. They’d had the fallout of a storm yesterday, but Bucky hadn’t thought anything of it. The storm must have been worse than he thought if it knocked over a tree.

He sloshed through the water, dragging his empty net with him. He dropped it in the grass and made his way towards the log, freezing for a moment when he saw a person up against it, then running.

They were awake and struggling, their legs pinned under the log and their arms on top of it so they didn’t get pulled under.

“Hey,” Bucky called. The man looked over, his dark hair plastered to his head, and looking at Bucky in fear. “D’you need some help?” he asked, then wanted to kick himself. Of _course_ the man needed help, he was trapped under a tree.

He didn’t seem to mind, though, just nodded frantically. It was a long process of edging and scooting and wiggling, but eventually he got free. Without him there, the tree turned lengthwise and floated on down. It would probably get stuck again, but Bucky would deal with it then. They had an axe in the house, so it wasn’t a hopeless situation-- and if he’d known he needed it today, he would’ve brought it along, but fishing didn’t tend to require an axe.

“You okay?”

The man nodded, but he was still leaning heavily on Bucky trying to catch his breath.

“Sure you are, doll.” Bucky pat his back. “My house in’t moren half a mile away, c’mon.” Bucky helped him walk, knowing that the guy would fall right over without him. “Got a name?” he asked when they got to his and Stevie’s house.

“Tony.”

“Nice to meetcha, I’m Bucky.”

“Do you always fish people out a river when they were being a dumbass?”

“Can’t say I do, you’re jus’ special.”

Tony laughed. “I’m honored.”

* * *

Tony had been staying with Bucky and Steve for a month now. It had only taken Bucky five hours to realize he liked Tony, and an additional forty hours to fall in love with him. So when he walked into their house to find Tony pale and staring at a letter, he instantly felt his stomach clench in worry.

“You okay?”

Tony startled, hiding the letter between his leg and the chair seat. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Uh, I just got here. What’s wrong?” Bucky walked over and got on his knees, putting a hand on Tony’s and looking at him in concern. Bucky didn’t think anything about the contact-- Tony was sleeping in his bed next to him after all, and they touched all the time-- but Tony shifted uncomfortably and moved his hands away. Bucky flushed in shame and removed his hand, scooting back and standing up. “Sorry.”

“No- it’s- it’s not- Bucky, I’m- oh gods.” Tony ran a hand through his hair. “You’re going to hate me.”

“What? Tony that’s crazy, I could never hate you.”

Someone knocked on the door, and Bucky frowned. Nobody came up here; everyone in the village knew that if they wanted something, they should wait until Steve visited. He went to answer it, Tony asking him to stop too late. On the other side of the door were two royal guardsmen, unmistakable in their red uniforms with the king’s crest on them.

“Can I help you?” Bucky asked, completely confused.

“We believe Prince Anthony is here,” one of them said.

“I’m sorry, but I don’ think-”

“Bucky,” Tony interrupted. “It’s fine.”

“What?” Bucky turned around, only to see that Tony was standing, his posture commanding and well practiced, and no trace of his earlier worry on his face.

The guards bowed, then smiled. “It’s good to see you again sir.”

Tony cracked a smile, and Bucky thought it looked fragile, but then again how well did he really know Ton- the _Prince_. “It’s good to see you too Happy. Nat.” He glanced at Bucky, who shook off his shock and bowed hurriedly, not noticing the way Tony’s eye twitched. “Could you give us a minute?” Happy and Nat shared a look, but Tony just rolled his eyes. “You’ll be right outside, and I’m not going to go missing again in the next three minutes.”

They both bowed again, then left. Bucky swallowed, not looking at Tony. It had been bad enough falling for Tony when he was just a gorgeous, funny genius, but now that he knew Tony was the Prince? He didn’t stand a chance. “Sorry Your Majesty, I shoulda--”

“Bucky.”

He snapped his mouth shut and hunched his shoulders. He felt like the kingdom’s biggest fool.

Tony walked over to him, put his hands on either side of Bucky’s face and kissed him. Not a little peck like you’d give in public or to family, but an all encompassing kiss where Tony was holding on to him desperately and kissing him for all he was worth. “Come with me.”

Bucky blinked-- half at the kiss and half at what he said. “What?”

“I have to go home.” He kissed Bucky again, curling his fingers in the hair at the base of his neck. “I want you to come with me. I-” he stopped, took a breath and set his jaw “-I love you. And I didn’t say anything earlier because you didn’t know who I was, but now you do, so- so come with me.”

“Steve--”

“Wants to move in with Sam but can’t leave you; you can ask him. He’ll be fine here Bucky, and you can write letters, and visit as much as you want.”

“Tony, I can’t…”

Tony’s face fell. “I really thought you’d say yes,” he whispered. He swallowed thickly. “Right.”

“I want to Tony, I just. I can’t.”

Tony backed up, shaking his head. “You don’t need to explain, it’s fine.”

“You don’t love me,” he blurted, and Tony froze. “You had a damsel in distress fairytale moment. Once you get home you’ll realize you don’t want me.”

Tony changed from vulnerable to, well, how he normally was. “Are you a pig? Because you’re full of shit.”

“Uhh.”

“If you want to come with me, then come with me. Calling me a liar is not a valid excuse to stay here, by the way.”

“Tony, you don’t really love me.”

“You’re going to give me a complex if you keep rejecting me like this.” Tony walked back up to him and put his hands on Bucky’s shoulders. “I love you. Is this the face of a liar? Does it look like I’m lying right now?”

“No,” Bucky said slowly.

“Okay, good. Do you want to come home with me? I promise the palace is nice.”

Bucky nodded quickly, like he thought the offer would be taken away. “I- uh.” He rushed in and kissed Tony, then stepped back again. “I’d better go talk to Steve.”

Tony was grinning brightly at him. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“Yeah. That’d be nice. This way if he gets mad, I can hide behind you.”

“How chivalrous.”

“I’ve only got one arm, I can’t afford to be chivalrous.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@cami-chats](http://cami-chats.tumblr.com)


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